Plover passes U.S. Coast Guard inspection

The U.S. Coast Guard passed the historic Plover ferry’s final inspection on July 10, allowing it to return to transporting passengers after a major restoration that took over a year.

The Plover passed the U.S. Coast Guard’s out-of-water inspection, done in Plover captain Richard Sturgill’s backyard on June 26, to ensure the replanking of the boat’s hull was done properly. With the out-of-water inspection approved, Sturgill paraded the Plover in Blaine’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July festival before returning the boat to Blaine Harbor on July 9. The in-water inspection on July 10 was the needed greenlight for the ferry to set sail.

The Plover is a 1944 vessel that once transported workers to the old Alaska Packers Association salmon cannery on Semiahmoo Spit. Sturgill oversaw the Plover’s original restoration in the ’90s.